Circuitron (the maker of Tortoises) diagrams, which they send upon request, show
connections at I, J and E. My experience tells me that this is exactly what to
do if the turnout is not the first one after the feeder power in a block, or if
there are insulated joiners at G and H, meaning that the point end of the turnout
is the start of a block (a "block" is an electrically isolated trackage section).
In these two cases and in only these two cases do you need three solder
points on your Peco.
Remember the main rule of feeder wires given in
all wiring books: all feeders must be on the points end of turnouts. A block boundary in the form of insulated joiners (at the points end of your turnout)
means that there in no trackage in the block to the points end of the turnout
so you must solder on the turnout itself. I and J are the best points to
do it for the same reason that E is the best frog soldering point: these points
are farthest from vulnerable areas of the turnout. You don't want to melt ties
or add solder around throwbars. And after turning over a Peco and seeing the cross-connections
underneath the frog area, you don't want to risk melting anything
around there either. Which leaves I, J and E as the best candidates.
If
you're following all this, you can see that flextrack on the points end
of the turnout is going to be getting feeder wires so you may as well "strike
while the soldering iron is hot"—if I may bend a metaphor—and use these feeder
wires in two ways: for track power feeding and frog powering. Obviously, you don't
want to solder two wires to each rail at the feeder location (for feeders and
to go to the Tortoise accessory switch terminals), so instead, use a butt connector,
Scotchlok tap connector, or terminal block connection (or solder under
the layout if you prefer) on the feeders before they reach their feed points where
they get soldered to flextrack. For appearance's sake, keep wire visibility
on top of your layout to a minimum.
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